Everybody loves to learn, especially in classes with titles such as the following:

More Money than You’ll Ever Need—Discover the
Happiest Income in America! Living an Abundant Life While Developing the Tools
of ‘Eternal’ Prosperity: The Financial Path of Choice—Actualizing Your
Financial Goals, Insights, and Creative Energy through the Smartest Choices You
Can Make ( by Scott C. Marsh)

The millionaire never thinks
of themselves as rich or wealthy.

The place where people finally
accept they are rich is at 7 million dollars. (From Fidelity)

Collaboration , mentoring,
innovation, open source, curiosity

Keys from an unexpected
source, concealed and accessible.(Marsh uses the book The
Millionaires Next Door)

***Millionaires have inconspicuous
lifestyles.

80% of millionaires don’t
drive fancy cars, but buy used cars.

Millionaires have
mentors.(Don’t find someone
who is getting a commission on a product they are selling you.)Have prospective financial advisors show their financial
statements. See how they are
doing. If they won't show, don't hire them.

And find out who they use as mentors.

Millionaires are living in a
modest home, usually the first one they bought. Never refinance unless it is an
emergency.(It is concerning that
60-year-olds are getting 30-year mortgages!Bad!)

Starter home, middle-class neighborhood,
pay off the mortgage as fast as possible.

Lots of advisors don’t
advise this. But ignore them.

Elder Faust had a 4% mortgage
(impossibly low at the time) he was trying to pay it off as fast as possible.Faust ignored the naysayers and
continued to pay it off. “That’s why Faust always has a smile on his face.”
(one apostle to someone else)

97% Millionaires own their own
home. High instance of home-ownership.

Millionaires have higher
education.80% are well-educated.

They will spend for their
kids' higher education.

President Hinckley
encouraged people to get better education to make more money.

--Debt (companies borrow
money from you through a bond. Must pay back or go broke)

Highest yield from stocks
because there is more risk.

--Derivative (a contract to
buy or sell something later.) Ex: Pork belly contracts. (If price goes up, make
money. Or if the price goes down, make money.) (Does not require buying the
asset. Only betting on the price.) (A contract that if the value fluctuates,
there will be loss or profit.)

Diversification.

Don’t have all your eggs in
one basket. If the basket breaks, all your eggs are gone.Invest in more than one company!

Have at least 21 different
companies in your portfolio, according to some people.

Allocation.-- Have your
money invested in more than one investment objective: bonds, large companies,
small companies, health, tech, stocks, etc.

Investment company—Someone
who helps people invest by investing with other people’s money.

What to do if you need a
place to invest?Everyone has
access to an IRA unless over-compensated.

Can put up to $35K in
different investments each year of 401K and IRA.

Some people say “Do an
annuity” but Scott Marsh says “In an annuity, each year you’ll earn income.
85%-90% will be dividend stuff that will be capital gains income.

If you’re in 401K, in the
15% tax bracket, 0% of it is taxed. (Taxes are the biggest investment expense)
You’d have to have taxable income over $80K to get taxed.All your capital gain income is
completely free from taxes forever.

But if you’re in an annuity,
you have pay ordinary income taxes on all of it. Annuities turn tax-free income
into abusively taxed income!VERY
BAD!!!”

Moral of the story: Avoid
annuities.

Annuities should never be
sold in a tax-qualified plan. Marsh emphasizes this: “NEVER NEVER NEVER.”Only people who sell
annuities say you should buy them.

Life insurance options:1) whole life or 2) term.

Just buy term life insurance
and invest the difference.

Roth IRAs.Why not do Roths?

Marsh says, There’s only one
reason to do Roth—if you’ll pay higher taxes in the future, and if you’re
scared income taxes will go up in the future.

But what if taxes don’t go higher?The IRS isn’t going to give you money
back if you make the wrong bet.

Historically, tax rates have
gone down in the last 20 years. Also, 85% people in the country are at a 15% tax
bracket or less, so odds are they will politically vote to keep taxes down and taxes
are going to go down.

Only one exception—students
who aren’t paying any taxes at all could do a Roth.

Don’t mess things up for
yourself just to help your kids.(Pretends to spit on the ground to show it is a distasteful idea)Roth might sound good if heirs can get
it out tax-free, but don’t bother about that.

Stock Mutual Funds

Average stock fund return is
8.2%

Average stock fund investor return was 3.5% How so
low?The loss is all because of emotional
reactions when stock drops and investors freak out and sell.

Penalty for not being in the
market is missing the best ten days right after it goes way down.Missing out on $20K.

--Precious metals. Gold has
no real value, according to Brigham Young and Warren Buffet. Anthropologists
are going to wonder why people put all that effort into it. Less than 1% of
gold is being used productively.Fear is the only thing that makes gold grow in value.

--“Qualified” Investor/“Accredited”
Investor Investments (These are offered to you once you’ve got a certain level
of money)--- These are more evidence of pride investing than profitable
investments (It is meant to make you feel special, but won’t make you money)

--12 Daily Pro- This investment offer claimed to give
2% return a day.Do the math.$1 invested would be
$2,973,593,804,833,860,000 at the end of 1 year.It’s larger than the national debt!NOT POSSIBLE>> Fraud.BYU students reported them.

There is no such thing as an
investment that guarantees a return
of 14% a year.

The Death of Equities.. (supposedly
but not really)

Some people think the market
has been doing too well over the last 10 years.

S&P 500 from 1972 to
2013..First 10 years was
disappointing. 1982 was called the death of equities.People thought stocks were not where the action was at.

Inflation was awful then.

But then things really went
up for the next 15 years.

An then 1997 to 2012 was
another “Forget about investing in equities!” period.

Moral: There are cyclical markets with long cycles of 15-20 year
stretches of alternating on-or-off modes.

What to do?The smartest guy is putting money in
even when the market isn’t doing very well.

Marsh shoved more money in
during Brexit.

We’re the most prosperous
we’ve ever been. There are so many reasons to have hope.

Negative news gets more
attention and reaction than good news.

Barbell Portfolio

Look at what the consumer
market is doing, not the stock market indicator.

Where is fear today? At its
highest point in history.(People
then sell and get out)

But where are the consumer
markets today? Are we spending in a way that reflects fear? No. We’re spending
at all-time record levels.

Baby boomers and Millennials
are two largest consumer markets in American history.Anticipate companies that will benefit the most from those
consumer markets.That will beat
the index.Average extra year is
5.29%

Moral: 1) Don’t get caught
up in the fear, and 2) analyze consumer markets.

Analyze demographics.

We’ll have 100 million new
workers by 2050 and we’ll be at the peak of prosperity.

Be a good American and start
having babies (like those Mormons in Utah!)

First kid makes happiness go
down, according to studies. (challenge)

After the fifth kid, you
start getting more happy. Greater happiness after having 8th child.

Marsh makes a statement he
knows will be controversial: American immigration things happening right now
are silly about sending people away.

Reality is: People are
markets. Overall, immigrants are more resourceful, saving, engaged, sacrificing
than Americans.

Examining immigration
financially (without considering the legality or morality of it), it is smart
to allow immigration.

Tax Analytics – Proactive
Strategies. TAPS

Largest expense is taxes on
investments.

Find a good tax
advisor.Ask them if they give
advise for tax strategies.

72 different Proactive
Strategies

IF home is paid off, you can
prepay charitable deductions in one year, then get standard deduction the next
year.

DO IT Yourself

Don’t go crazy because of
flat returns. Good returns will follow.

Try to figure out how to
minimize taxes.

Estate Planning and Asset Protection: Estate Planning
in the 21st century (by Robert Bolick, attorney)

Everybody has a will. The
state will write one up for you, but it’s better if you plan it yourself.

--Providing for an orderly
distribution of assets when we die.

--Avoiding civil war among
descendents.

--Avoiding probate. Probate
is going to court.

--Protecting beneficiaries.

Trusts versus wills

Will drawbacks:

-Beneficiaries have to go
through probate if your estate is over a certain amount. (over 50,000 for AZ)

--Assets open to public
scrutiny.,

--Children from prior marriage
aren’t protected,

--Previous marriages
involved

Living trusts.

--Created while you are
alive.

--Trustor, creates it,
Trustee in charge.

--Beneficiary benefits

--Trust is revocable.

--No tax consequences for
going in or out.

--No annual maintenance
fees,

--no register. 100% private,
No one knows it exists unless you tell them.

--No one gets to see a copy
unless you show it.

--Real estate owned in
trust., you maintain 100% control throughout your life.

--It is a hassle because you
have to go to court to administer the estate.

Requirements for probate.

--Assets held in decedents
name only, not in trust, joint tenancy or beneficiary designation.

--Assets exceed a certain
amount.

--You’re dead.

Do I really need a trust?

What about joint tenancy?

It never works that way in
life.

It still needs to be
probated.

There are always problems.

Not a good idea.

Joint tenancy: Whoever lives
the longest gets it all.

Requirements:

Two or more humans, cannot
be with an entity. (entity doesn’t die)

Defers probate until death of
the second person

Doesn’t help when there are
simultaneous deaths,

Always messy with multiple
marriages. Children of the surviving spouse end up with it all, and previous
spouse’s children gets nothing.

Even wills with joint
tenancy can get ignored.

What about IRAs and 401Ks
that can’t be joint tenancy?

They can’t be held in a
trust.

They are for individuals.

They are considered a
taxable event.

Name the individuals
beneficiaries , not a trust.Name
spouse as beneficiaries (or next the kids)

If the trusts are the
beneficiaries, the payouts come in 5 years and trigger taxes.

Spouse doesn’t have to
withdraw yearly, and no taxes.

Joint tenancy loses tax
benefits of community property states.. It separate property that isn’t
community property.

Arizona is a community
property state. (Illinois isn’t a community property state)

Several states allow for
real estate to be held as community property with right of survivorship.

With children on title, the
creditors of a child can attach mom’s interest—divorce, car wreck, business
failure, liability.If a
child dies before mom, his children are disinherited. Can’t have asset
protection.

True story of daughters who
disinherited their siblings who weren’t in the joint tenancy.

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About Me

Michaela Stephens

Arizona, United States

I'm a happily married 32-year old who switched from Electronic Engineering Technology to Literature, Writing, and Film.
I worked for 3 years at ASU as a writing tutor and have over 400 sessions worth of experience helping people with their writing.
I'm the oldest of seven children (5 boys, 2 girls)
I'm a bit of a neat freak and an undeniable bookworm.

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